Obvious
by skinnyrita
Summary: Sometimes things are so obvious. That's why they take so long for us to see them. WillJack, oneshot. please read and review.


**Obvious.**

It was January and as usual Will was attempting to persuade Jack round to his side of an argument, using as few long words as possible. He had a splitting headache and was currently rooting through his kitchen cupboards for the aspirin while Jack continued to screech like a self-possessed howler monkey inches from his ear:

"Oh my God William Elizabeth Truman, you are so self-obsessed it sickens me!" cried Jack, pausing to stage-spit dramatically over his shoulder. Will shut his eyes, teeth gritted. "What about _me_, do you ever think of _me_? Where am I gonna live?"

The lease on Jack's apartment had expired just before Christmas and for the first time his mom had not yielded and would not finance it for another term. It was usually leased jointly with Will, and high-flying job or not, he wasn't in a position to rent two apartments at the same time, and so Jack had been forced to move out. There was a new ("so unfashionable and probably homophobic" –Jack's words) couple in the apartment across the hall. It had been sort of fun having Jack there for Christmas as Grace had been shoehorned into going to her parents' for the holidays, but now he was definitely outstaying his welcome.

Will swung round and glared at Jack. "I am thinking of you Jack, and I'm thinking that I might kill you. Go stay at Karen's for a while. When Grace gets back you'd have to go somewhere else anyway," he said, tiredly. Jack crossed his arms and stuck his bottom lip out.

"Can I stay here till then?" he wheedled.

Will pursed his lips. "You don't wanna go to Karen's?"

"Sometimes it's not so funsville there," Jack shrugged, seriously, then his face morphed back into the usual devil-no-care Jack: "besides Miss Will, I know you have a datey date tonight, and who else is going to dress you?" he sang, smirking.

Will groaned and swallowed the aspirin. "Oh yes, James. Cute. Tall. Stockbroker. Crap, I don't think I wanna go."

"Will would you stop selling yourself short and get out there! My God man, you're becoming a straight!" Jack admonished, cupping the other man's face in his hands. "You're fabulo-so-o-u-s, okay?"

"Think so?"

Jack leaned their foreheads together. "I really do."

"Not just because you wanna stay here?"

"Will!" Jack shrieked and released him, smacking him on the arm. "I was doing the nice friend thing! Next time I'll tell you to forget it and not to try dating men with a smaller waistline and more hair than you!"

Will sniggered, a little relieved. The serious Jack made him a little nervous sometimes. He turned round to put the aspirin away. "So, you got a date?"

"No, JP and I broke up," said Jack, dejectedly.

"Broke up? You only dated for three weeks."

"Yeah, well he wasn't the right one, okay can we drop it?" Jack snapped. Will paused before closing the cupboard slowly.

"Sure," he said, quietly, a little worried. Jack had really not dated that many people recently, and he was the kind of guy who seemed to thrive on attention. The attention towards him was there, but it seemed like none of those guys were what he was looking for anymore. "Um, I'm gonna go grab a shower, shave, all that jazz, okay?"

"I'll have you a _fabulous_ outfit out!" said Jack. He seemed cheery enough, but Will was beginning to wondering how much of this was just bravado now. He thought about it as he showered. Jack had been behaving differently for a while now; maybe he just hadn't seen it. After breaking up with Vince a second time, this time for good, Will had really thrown himself back onto the dating radar, but Jack hadn't been that keen. Of course they'd been to Boy Bar and bagged a couple of one-night-stands, but that wasn't even the same. And then with Jack taking up semi-permanent residence in his apartment, Will had been able to notice more about Jack's mood swings. What was that about? He had this niggling feeling that Jack was keeping something secret from him. A sudden fear struck him as he imagined that maybe Jack was ill or something, but then this thought evaporated: Jack had always been the first person to seek out sympathy from as many people as possible. So what was up?

Will emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and entered the bedroom to see what Jack had selected for him. Not too much of a shock, though he did change the spangly sequinned shirt that Jack had stolen from an art dealer he'd dated, and replaced it with a plain white one. Combined with the tan corduroys, slouchy yet slick navy blazer and moccasins, it was a pretty good look although not entirely weather-appropriate –it might need a full length coat and scarf over it too… he looked over at the wardrobe door and saw that Jack had hung just the thing on the door, with a smart cashmere scarf. Perfect.

"Do a twirl," said Jack, rising from his TV spot as Will re-entered the living area. He pouted: "dullsville, where's the shirt?"

Will chuckled as he shrugged the overcoat on, "I'll leave that one to you Jacky, not sure I could pull it off on a date with a stockbroker." Jack 'tuh'-ed and stalked over to inspect him.

"Well, guess you'll do anyway."

"Yeah?" said Will, genuinely surprised, checking his hair in the wall mirror.

"Yeah," he agreed, quietly. Will turned back to Jack and smiled warmly.

"What would I do without you Jacky," he said affectionately, "I never look this good!" He gave Jack a peck on the cheek and secured the scarf before glancing up again. Jack was looking at him funny again. When he spoke it came out sort of strangled.

"Yeah, you do," he said, leaned forward and gave Will a peck on the lips. He froze, chest tight. It wasn't that Jack had kissed him on the mouth; it was that the gesture felt so different to usual, and so serious. While he was standing trying to understand, Jack leaned forwards and kissed him again, more desperately, harder and for longer. When he pulled back his expression was tensely apprehensive, and almost scared. Will stepped back, and shook his head slightly, and opened his mouth before promptly shutting it again, wondering what to say.

"Will…" Jack sounded almost tearful. Will stepped backwards and wrenched the front door open.

He shook his head again, "I've gotta go –I –date…" he stammered, and escaped to the lifts. As the doors closed one hand came up to cover his mouth that Jack had just kissed, and suddenly everything that had been happening recently started falling into place.

It was dark in the apartment when Will let himself back in the front door. The date had been awful: James had been the best date a guy could ask for, and all he'd been thinking about was what to do about Jack. After realising Will hadn't been listening to a word he'd been saying for the tenth time in a row, James understandably walked out, leaving the 'stuck up hotshot lawyer' with the cheque.

Will stepped into the living area and almost fell over the three large packing cases. Clearly Jack had packed in anticipation of his return, but he wasn't sure if he'd actually left. Will wet his lips and took some deep breaths before approaching the door of the second bedroom, wondering whether he'd find it occupied or whether Jack had gone down to Boy Bar to sort his emotions out. He had been expecting the latter, so it was a surprise when he tried the handle and found the door locked. He breathed carefully, then knocked. "Jack?"

There was a long pause. He knocked again, "Jack, Jack please…" the door opened almost immediately and Jack appeared in the gap in a pair of pyjama pants looking worried, and as though he had cried earlier. Will's heart wrenched.

"I'll get out," said Jack flatly, making to close the door again.

"No," Will exclaimed urgently, emotions lurching all over the place as though he might laugh and burst into tears at the same time. He reached forwards in a daze and traced the shorter man's lips with his fingertips. Jack shut his eyes and licked the tip of the index finger as it passed; letting Will trace a wet trail over his chin, down his neck, and across the collarbone before circling a nipple. He panted loudly in surprise at the other man's uncharacteristic boldness, and opened his eyes. They were big blue orbs of happy bewilderment; he mouthed 'Will,' silently, before his friend closed the gap between them and kissed him.

Will could hear his heart beating loudly somewhere in his throat, his skin on fire. He had kissed Jack before, but somehow everything was different. He hadn't completely felt like this since he'd been with Michael, he realised, as he felt Jack deepen the kiss, turning it into a full-on French which they moaned into before parting, breathing hard. Jack was looking at him with a wonder-struck smile that he'd never seen before. Will found that the grin that had taken over his face wouldn't go away. He was about to speak, when suddenly the lights snapped on and made them jump away from each other.

"Aw crap, what're these cases doing here?" said a brash voice, loudly.

Will frowned and called out, "Grace?" looking at Jack desperately.

"Yeah, sorry, I just couldn't stick my mom any longer, and her matchmaking, I mean God, a _tree surgeon_? What _is_ one of those, anyway? Add to that that she now thinks I look like my great aunt Pescha and wants me to see her botox guy… or as she puts it: 'roll on those trombones, Gracie needs the botox fa la la lumbo, she's getting jumbo, needs to lose a few pounds and get a little work around the eyes…seventy-six trombones…" Grace continued singing in a not far off impression of her mom while Jack and Will stood and looked at each other with expressions mixing the messages 'this cannot be happening,' and 'how can we do this with her here?!'

Will counted to ten calmly and went out into the living area. Grace was already in the kitchen raiding all the cookies he'd bought the day before. "Help yourself," he said wryly, taking off his coat and scarf, which he'd had on since he'd arrived back. "You know Gracie, Jack's still here, so…"

"Ah crap," said Grace with her mouthful, "can he take the couch? I'm beat."

Jack appeared behind Will and answered "sure, Miss-matcher," in his normal confident blasé drawl before Will could say anything. "Clean sheets went on this morning, I'm out tomorrow anyway."

"You are?" Will swung round to face him, stunned. Jack shrugged.

"Unless something happens," he said cryptically, raising his eyebrows so that Will would remember that Grace was still there.

"Well, I'm hitting the hay then, I guess I should go to work tomorrow anyway before I fire my ass," Grace remarked, carefully stowing the cookie jar under one arm and picking up the glass of juice she'd just poured with her free hand. "Night guys."

There was silence while both men held their breath, listening to Grace's door close, lock, and the thuds of her shoes being flung off. Will reached out and took one of Jack's hands, then quietly led him into his own bedroom, and shut the door.

The door clicked shut. Will locked it slowly. He couldn't work out what he was feeling; the jumbling emotions gripping him at that moment were excruciating. He wet his lips, took a steadying breath, and turned around. Jack was standing behind him, the back of his knees sort of half resting against the bed. He looked wide-eyed and nervous, a look Will had never seen before. He felt elated to have been the one to break through Jack's habitual carefree act. The problem was, he wasn't sure exactly how to deal with that kind of power. His feet began moving forwards of their own accord; he tried to stop them, but he knew that what they both needed was reassurance that what was happening was real and okay with them both –one wrong move and nearly fifteen years of friendship would go down the pan.

"Jack-"

"ILoveYou." Jack blushed darkly and breathed slowly before he looked at his friend again, who looked stunned but thankfully not repelled by the idea. "And… I am _in love_ with you."

Will froze about three paces away. There was a pause while he tried to unclog his throat. "I –um –hngugh- I – how long have you felt this way?"

"Maybe since waking up next to you after Stan's funeral. Maybe since forever when I asked you to be with me and pretended it was a test when you blew me off. Maybe since I saw you break up with Michael, with Vince… I don't want you to want to break it off with me. I love you William," said Jack, frankly. He cleared his throat painfully, "but you don't… I can see from your face that you don't feel the same way so I guess I should try to get to Kare's place after all, so I'll go, and we can talk about this some other time…"

"Jack," Will switched his brain back on and caught the other man by the waist, as he was about to shoulder past him. Quickly, he tried to scrub off some of his tears with the heel of his free hand, before enveloping Jack in a hug. More a nuzzly cuddle really.

"Will?" said Jack, quietly. Then: "Will, you're getting me all wet and salty." Will laughed and released him. He studied Jack's face at close view; his big blue eyes which thankfully looked a little less apprehensive; ran his fingers through the short, soft hair that did whatever its keeper wanted and that he was secretly envious of. Kissed his lips again, softly and carefully. Ran his hands down and over his back. Nosed at his ear and planted kisses on his neck. Listened to his breathing quicken because of something _he_ had done.

"You do know that I love you."

Jack nodded. "I should have said something when we thought we… when we were on the boat. Ages ago. I felt so…"

"Disappointed? Me too."

"Disappointed I didn't remember it."

"Lucky it didn't happen then," Will said, quirking a smile. He bit his lip, quickly trying to divert his attention from Jack's exposed torso –appealing as that was. "Jack… this isn't, um, just about sex." It could be a statement or a question; he wasn't even sure which it was meant to be. Hopefully it wouldn't be taken offensively.

To his relief, Jack released a breathy laugh: "God, Will, I don't know if I'm ready to sleep with my best friend yet."

"Who, Karen? I'm hurt."

"Shut it Mary." They snickered together.

"You're not going though, right?"

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "When you've got a bed big enough for a Roman orgy?" he quipped, flippantly. They both snapped their eyes to the bed. "I'm going to undress you now."

William Truman had never been more aware of his clothed body, than that first time of being undressed by Jack McFarland. First he waited patiently while each of the buttons on his shirt was undone, slowly but methodically. Then the shirt was parted and Jack spent a minute inspecting his chest and upper torso, with eyes and fingertips. Will concentrated on breathing properly. Then Jack turned him around and peeled the shirt off his back, which he then proceeded to inspect in the same way: slowly and carefully. Then he turned back to face him and stared at his belt buckle for a good ten seconds before suddenly reaching forwards and jerking it undone. At this point, when Will thought that he was feeling a little too faint, he intervened.

"Jack, stop." He didn't recognise his own voice it was so many shades deeper than usual. Jack clearly didn't recognise it either; the eyes that met his were even bluer than ever, like a photo manipulation. He grabbed his hair and kissed his lips but this time he felt completely different, like a man seeing the sun for the first time in years. Maybe for the first time in his life. He explored his mouth and tongue, how much better he tasted than anyone else he could remember, how they all seemed like such a waste of precious time…why, oh why had they wasted _so much time_? How he couldn't breathe but needed to stay as close as possible, how much softer the skin on his torso felt compared to his own, how lithe and beautiful Jack's abdomen was, how he'd have felt like some sort of hideous lump of lard next to any other man, but the for the fact that this was his Jacky who was pushing him onto his own bed and sweeping his hand in a wondrous caress from his shoulder right down to his navel and taking his breath away.

Will imagined that he probably had a sort of glazed look on his face as he looked up at Jack. He'd never seen Jack looking desirous before. It was incredible how different and yet the same his face looked. "You wanna talk about this a little?"

Will nodded, relieved. Jack got off him and looked at him expectantly. "Let's get into this bed before we freeze," Will suggested, shrugging his trousers off –luckily he was wearing his 'could get lucky' date boxers, and not the worn old tatty things he usually slept in. They snuggled into the bed. He was surprised when Jack nestled under his arm immediately and pressed his chilly cheek on his warm chest, fingers trailing over his torso again, learning its contours.

"I'm sorry I've been such a hissy sissy this past week," Jack murmured quietly, so that he had to concentrate carefully to hear what he was saying, "last week I finally started admitting to myself how I really wanted you in my life, and all this week with your date and all, I've felt so tense inside but selfish too… I was trying to be happy for you… how was your date anyway?"

Will sighed and caressed the younger man's hair absentmindedly as he replied, "honestly? It was terrible, and I felt so embarrassed -he was a great guy, well everything you should look for I guess, rich and interesting enough, all his own hair and teeth, but I couldn't listen to a word the guy was saying, I was so busy trying to work out you kissing me and yeah… in the end I guess I'd ignored him too many times cuz he walked out and let me get the cheque."

"Smooth."

"Your fault."

"Good." They giggled together.

"Why _did_ you kiss me tonight?"

Jack paused for so long that Will thought maybe he wouldn't answer. "I was afraid that you would like him and I would miss my chance again –if this stockbroker guy became your next Vince…"

"Jack I don't want you to be my 'next Vince'. Vince and I broke up. You can stay with me forever."

"Yeah?"

"Definitely. I mean, you know, I've put up with you this long…"

"You mean old queen!" Jack poked him in the chest, "you ruined the corny cliché moment, I was gonna have it framed!" Will laughed and wrapped his arms more securely around him. Jack cleared his throat quietly. Will looked down at him. "I do want you forever."

"Not proposing to me, are you?"

"You'd be lucky," Jack replied, smiling, "I… I do mean it Will."

"Me too."

There was a crash, and a curse. The two men jolted into each other, startled. There was a pause.

"WILL?" Will raised an eyebrow at Jack.

Grace.

Hollering outside the door.

There was a knocking. "WILL… WHEN YOU AND JACK ARE DONE SMOOCHING IN THERE CAN ONE OF YOU MOVE THESE CASES…THANK YOUUU…"

Jack looked at him for a moment, then laughed.

_The End (for us, but not for Will and Jack)_


End file.
